Bulk Operation window

Bulk operations allow you to perform operations on whole data sets. The data set is first loaded into an in-memory intermediate data set. You create steps which operate on the intermediate data.

To select a data source, please see Choosing a data source.

In the Bulk Operation window, Process Steps tab, press Add to create a new step.

The kinds of operations that can be performed are described in the following sections.

Process step: User review/edit

When Axisbase reaches this step, it displays the loaded data set and allows the user to make changes.

Process step: Mailmerge

Performs a mailmerge. Please see the tutorial on Performing a mailmerge.

Process step: Email

Email an external file to all of the recipients identified by a column of a data table. Please see the tutorial on Bulk e-mailing.

Process step: Massage

Changes every row in the same way. You must select eh affected table and affected column, and the kind of massage.

The kinds of massage are:

• Trim spaces
• Truncate text (make sure it doesn't exceed a certain maximum length)

Process step: Export

Writes the data set to a file.

You may specify the Write file, or leave this blank. If blank, it will ask the user each time.

Specify the affected table (that is, the table to export), and the format. The formats are:

• txt - Text file, containing one record per line, with comma delimited fields.
• xml - Axisbase XML format. This format can be loaded back into Axisbase.
• ms-xml - Microsoft XML format.
  

Process step: Modify, Create, and Delete

Modifies, creates, or deletes records in the database based on the intermediate data set.

It's easy to get confused between the role of the intermediate (temporary) data and the permanent data stored in the database. The intermediate data controls which permanent records are modified or deleted, or it is used as a template to create new permanent records.

You must specify the affected table of the intermediate data set. You must also specify a record type to indicate which permanent records to affect. The grid entitled "Map Columns From Intermediate Data" tells the bulk operation which column of intermediate data corresponds to which column of permanent data. The "From" column is intermediate data, while the "To" column is permanent data. A mapping is a correspondence, so "mapping columns" means selecting a column name on the "From" side and a corresponding column name on the "To" side.

For a Create operation, include in the "To" side only those properties that you want to populate, and don't include key or ^ver, which are automatically assigned. Map each column to the "From" column that should populate it.

For a Modify operation, include "key" in the "To" side and map this to the "From" column that identifies the record by key. The key identifies the record and cannot be changed. Then include any columns to you want to modify in the "To" side and map these to the "From" columns that should populate them.

For a Delete operation, only include the "key" in the "To" side and map this to the "From" column that identifies the record by key.